Monday, November 13, 2023
GUEST STARS OF THE HEE HAW SHOW
Hee Haw was an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 1996 to 1997. RFD-TV began airing reruns in 2008, where it currently remains.
The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being that Hee Haw was far less topical, and was centered on country music and rural culture. Hosted by country music artists Buck Owens and Roy Clark for most of its run, the show was equally well known for its voluptuous, scantily clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits and country-style minidresses (a group that came to be known as the "Hee Haw Honeys"), and its corn pone humor.
Hee Haw's appeal, however, was not limited to a rural audience. It was successful in all of the major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago. Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show (which targeted older audiences) and Soul Train (which targeted black audiences) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era. Like Laugh-In, the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches, setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence on another day, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire season's worth of shows would be taped in two separate week-long sessions, then individual shows were assembled from edited sections. Only musical performances were taped with a live audience; a laugh track was added to all other segments.
The series was taped for the CBS Television Network at its station affiliate WLAC-TV (now WTVF) in downtown Nashville, and later at Opryland USA in the Donelson area of Nashville.[5] The show was produced by Yongestreet Productions through the mid-1980s; it was later produced by Gaylord Entertainment, which distributed the show in syndication. The show's name was coined by show business talent manager and producer Bernie Brillstein and derives from a common English onomatopoeia used to describe the braying sound that a donkey makes.
After 25 seasons, the series initially ended its run in June 1993,[1] where it was soon picked up by TNN for reruns. TNN would eventually order an additional season of first-run episodes, beginning November 23, 1996. The show ultimately ended for good on December 27, 1997....
Here's a two record set with artists that appeared on the Hee Haw show, Buck Owens, Faron Young, Ferlin Husky, George Jones, Wynn Stewart, Sonny James and Minnie Pearl....
GET THE FIRST RECORD HERE
GET THE SECOND RECORD HERE
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment